For many of us, the world is divided into two kinds of people — those who spend a lot of their time in cyberspace and conduct many of their personal transactions on the Net and those who don’t. The first category does its banking, shopping and trading on the Net and looks forward to the day when, not merely airline tickets and holiday destination, but even their grocery can be bought from anywhere.

Some perceive online grocery shopping as a way of extending their physical malls and sales points to a larger audience while others cynically hope to improve valuations and attract private equity by holding out the promise of an extended online-telephone-home delivery model.

The result: daily advertisements offering incredible deals on everything from mangoes to potatoes and shampoo to furniture. Does online shopping for grocery and toiletries really work? Or are marketers merely holding out an impossible dream without the systems, trained manpower and rigorous processes to fulfill customer dreams?

In fact, despite the hype, most Indian retailers have to pay attention to product quality and staff. After the excitement about big discounts, which is certainly a serious attraction in a price-sensitive market like India, the discerning buyer has begun to chafe at quality. For instance, consumer feedback reveals that the quality of vegetables at multi-product malls such as Big Bazaar, Magnet or even Subhiksha is erratic and often atrocious.

Also, products that are cheap are usually of shoddy quality. Once the thrill of bargain hunting and shopping in an air-conditioned, western format mall wears off, the lack of discipline among the staff and their perpetual chattering in the aisles begins to irritate.

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